Conrad Henfling (1648–1716 Ansbach, Germany),[1] musicologist, musician, mathematician and lawyer[2] was an official and privy councilor (Hofrat) at the court of the Margrave of Ansbach, Germany. He also invented a new type of keyboard for organ and harpsichord,[3] the design of which was extended by Paul von Janko in his 1882 patent for a keyboard layout.[4]
In a letter dated 30 August 1706, he wrote to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz dealing with many issues of music theory he sets out detailed calculations for a method of musical temperament, using Euclid's algorithm in his reasoning.[5] Leibniz had Henfling's work published as "Epistola de novo suo systemate musico" in Miscellanea berolinensia, in 1710.[6]
Further reading
edit- Leibniz und Der Briefwechsel zwischen Henfling Conrad by Rudolf von Herausgegeben Haase, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 1982, ISBN 3-465-01534-7, preview at Google Books
- La musique, une pratique cachée de l'arithmétique? by Patrice Bailhache
- The Hänfling/Bümler Temperament, a Trigger for Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier?
Not music related
edit- Theses inaugurales iuridicae circa ius retorsionis iniuriarum verbalium by Conrad Henfling, Argentorati, 1678, at Google Books
References
edit- ^ Leibniz und Der Briefwechsel zwischen Henfling Conrad by Rudolf von Herausgegeben Haase, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 1982, ISBN 3-465-01534-7
- ^ Baierisches Musik-Lexikon by Lipowsky, Felix Joseph, Munich, 1811, page 122.
- ^ La musique, une pratique cachée de l'arithmétique? Archived 13 February 2013 at archive.today by Patrice Bailhace, Studia Leibniztiana, Actes du colloque L'actualité de Leibniz: les deux labyrinthes, Cerisy, 1995
- ^ Janko Keyboard Piano Archived 2 August 2003 at the Wayback Machine on Piano World
- ^ Musical pitch and Euclid's algorithm
- ^ Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2006, acc. 3/21/06) Rudolf Haase
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